The Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) reported a 1.1% rise in Egypt’s annual headline inflation rate in May, hitting 14.1%, up from 13% a month earlier, Invest-Gate reports.

Inflation accelerated to 1.1% month-on-month in May from 0.4% in the prior month, CAPMAS indicated on June 10, attributing the hike to the rising consumer prices, as food and non-alcoholic beverages soared 15.1% in May versus 13% a month ago.

Meanwhile, core inflation, which strips out volatile items such as food, slowed slightly to 7.8% in May, compared to 8.1% in the previous month, the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) revealed on June 10.

It is worth noting that annual headline inflation stood at 11.4% in May 2018, according to CAPMAS official figures.

Egypt is approaching the end of the International Monetary Fund (IMF)-backed economic reform program, during which inflation jumped to as high as 35% in July 2017. The rate later dwindled following the EGP flotation in November 2016, but increasing prices, especially of fruits and vegetables, have kept pressure high.

In a report issued in January 2018, IMF anticipated the inflation rate to drop to less than 10% in 2019, particularly after it spiked energy prices and the imposition of value-added tax (VAT), on the back of the reform program.